ABC Eyes Potential ‘Modern Family’ Spinoff

EXCLUSIVE: ABC‘s flagship comedy Modern Family, which is coming off a fourth consecutive best series Emmy win, may be getting a spinoff. I’ve learned that the network and producer 20th Century Fox TV have met to discuss potentially spinning off the hit comedy. Details are sketchy as conversations are in very early stages with multiples ideas discussed, but I hear one offshoot concept that is being explored is for a show built around standout Modern Family guest player Rob Riggle and the character he played in two episodes last season. The idea is being spearheaded by Modern Family executive producers Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh who would run point and write the script. (Modern Family co-creator/executive producer Steve Levitan would likely have some involvement, while fellow co-creator/exec producer Christopher Lloyd is expected to remain solely focused on the flagship series, now in its fifth season.) Riggle’s Gil Thorpe is Southern California’s most successful real estate agent and rival of Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) who briefly employed Phil’s wife Claire (Julie Bowen). Thorpe is abrasive and has a penchant for inserting his name in words, like “Thorpedoed” and “Gil Pickles.” Corrigan and Walsh, who became a writing team when they met in NYU’s film school, have been on Modern Family since after the pilot. They wrote one of Riggle’s two Modern Family episodes, “Career Day” (check out the video below).